Spring Tune Up For Your Home

April 16, 2019 by Suzanne Lasky

Below is a guest posting to which S Interior Design added comments and photos to to augment the message (shown in red color font). We ourselves just enacted many of the 6 suggestions on our home’s back patio. It is now a cleaned up,uncluttered, cohesive design that we are proud of and enjoy spending time in with friends and family.

After a long day, there’s nothing better than coming home and relaxing. But in order to truly enjoy your home, you need to create an environment where you can feel comfortable.

Unfortunately, home decor and design aren’t always at the top of everyone’s priority list. Luckily, turning your home into your own personal oasis can be easy, and even a little fun. Keep reading for 6 ways to make your home environment a priority this month.

1. Get Rid of Items You Don’t Use

If you’re anything like most people, you’ve probably accumulated a bunch of stuff over the years that you no longer have a use for. Instead of trying to find new ways to organize these things, it’s time to consider getting rid of things you don’t need.

Discarding unnecessary things will make your home cleaner and more organized and can even free up some of your storage space. If throwing things away seems too drastic, you may want to consider donating any items you think could be useful to others.

Have a garage sale or donate your unwanted items to Goodwill or your favorite charity sponsored Thrift Store.

2. Make the Most of your Home’s Natural Light

Take down heavy weight window treatments and replace them with sheer fabrics that filter the light.

Add sky lights or Solar Tubes to your ceiling.

Looking for a way to make your home feel bright and fresh? Natural light is the answer. Making it a point to open your curtains every morning is a quick and easy way to get natural light flowing through your home. Adding mirrors to your home can also help you get more natural light. In addition to making your home brighter, exposure to natural light can also have positive benefits on your health by improving sleep and boosting mental health.

3. Fix Broken Appliances

Are there any appliances in your home that need to be repaired or replaced? Having broken appliances in your home can impact the overall functionality of your space. Investing in a good home appliance plan can help you save money while also staying on top of routine maintenance.

Sometimes it makes sense to fix what you already have. If you decide to get new appliances make sure they are energy efficient.

4. Introduce New Colors

The color scheme can really affect the overall feel of a room so it’s important to choose all of your colors wisely. While an entirely new paint job may be a little too much to undertake, you can find other ways to introduce new colors around your home. For example, try bringing in colorful accessories and bold accent pieces.

New throws or throw pillows can change the look of a room entirely. A new area rug can make a big impact too. You can even change out a few pieces of your wall art.

SHERWIN WILLIAMS 2019 PAINT COLOR TRENDS

5. Organize Clutter

There’s no doubt that having a clean home will give you peace of mind, but clutter is hard to avoid. As you go through your day to day life, it can be easy for things to pile up and get unorganized. Coming up with a way to neatly store all of your belongings can save you lots of time and energy.

You can start by organizing your current storage areas such as drawers and cabinets. Once you’ve gotten some success under your belt, you can move on to larger spaces.

6. Rearrange Furniture

Have you been feeling a little tired of your home? If so, you’re not alone. But moving isn’t always the easiest or most logical thing to do. The good news is that rearranging some furniture around your home can give your space a completely different look and feel.

Try to re-imagine some of the rooms in your home with a different setup and move things around until you get the look you want.

7. Turn Your Home into Your Happy Place

Remember to keep these tips in mind, as you move your home to the top of your priority list this month. With a little bit of time and effort, you can create a home environment that is everything you’ve ever wanted.

Cabinets: Basic Thoughts

September 22, 2017 by Suzanne Lasky

S Interior Design is often asked to host guest blog articles. Our standard criteria for accepting a guest post is that it will provide useful information for our readers. The guest posting below is from a writer in Australia (I always get a kick out of the different terminology used in countries other than the U.S. :)). It contains some very basic information about cabinetry types that can be used throughout a home. An analogy I have used is that you cannot successfully play a sport without the proper equipment, and you cannot be organized in your home without the proper spaces to store your things. CABINETS are the key ingredient to having an organized home.

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Sell Quicker-5 Easy Guidelines to Stage Your Home

March 24, 2015 by Suzanne Lasky

Thinking about putting your home on the market? Here are some helpful ideas to help you prepare your home for sale

Time to Get ORGANIZED

January 6, 2015 by Suzanne Lasky

WELCOME TO 2015!!

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to start this new year feeling organized in your home, office and life in general? Sometimes easier said than done. My best friend is a professional organizer (Get Organized with Bridges). She is consistently busy with clients. We have become a society of collectors and sometimes even hoarders. Like playing a sport without the right equipment, it is nearly impossible to obtain and maintain an organized life without the proper tools to do so.

S Interior Design has gone on client design consults where the very first step before any changes to the design of a space can be made, is purging and organizing by the client.

Below is a guest post from ‘across the pond’ supporting the idea of having additional storage space at your disposal.

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10 Unexpected Storage Spots

December 29, 2013 by Suzanne Lasky

At the start of every new year, I decide it is time to ORGANIZE. The tricky part is finding enough places and spaces to store everything. The guest post below shares some great ideas about unexpected areas in your home to find ‘extra’ storage. Enjoy and get organized in 2014.

10 (truly) unexpected storage spots

Whether you are looking to decrease the clutter in your home, or simply find space for your essential items in a small apartment, unique and unexpected storage spots can be hard to spot. Fortunately, when you take a few moments to analyze what you have available to you, you may find some amazing storage ideas are sitting waiting to be used! Check out these ten unexpected storage spots below to help inspire your creativity!

Behind Cabinet Doors

While you may think of hiding a paper towel roll behind a cabinet door, you have probably never thought of including your entire spice rack, lid holders and more behind them! You have an abundance of cabinet doors in your kitchen, so get some shelves, hooks, and screws ready and start hanging up everything that can be hung behind the shelves! For more tips on how to improve the efficiency of a utility closet by adding shallow compartments to the back of the door click here.

Image source: http://www.williampaid.com

Behind Regular doors

Many people have taken to storing their present wrapping items on the insides of doors as well as cleaning products, shoes, and more. Take advantage of all that hidden vertical hanging space and use it to the max!

Room Dividers

If you are looking to separate a space with a divider, choose a double sided shelf instead. If you can’t afford one, try linking two shelves together, or stacking wooden crates together facing opposite sides for a unique way to create shelving space!

Image Source: http://apartmentgeeks.net

Garage ceiling

Garage ceilings are perfect for totes, bike racks, and all of those seasonal items that have to be stored most of the year.

Image Source: http://www.designrulz.com

On Top of washer/dryer

Provided you don’t have a top load washer, you can grab a wooden board, lay it on top, and add additional shelves above for some great storage space for all your cleaning and washing products!

Stairwell bookshelves

Have a staircase in your house? Check with a contractor to see how to fit in some slide out bookshelves into the side of the stairs! The space can be used for coats or seasonal storage as well!

Under the stairs

If you can’t fit shelves into the side of stairs, why not under each step? You have a good five or so inches which can be hollowed out and used as a storage space! Place books under each for a crafty book case and a beautiful finish to any stairwell!

Kitchen Island

A kitchen island may have some cabinets on the one side, but why waste all that potential storage on the other? Use some creativity and add in some shelves for all of your cookbooks and more!

Next to fridge

There are always those annoying two or three inch gaps between your fridge and the wall. Unfortunately for people who deal with smaller kitchens, that space may be the bane of their existence. Now, however, you can utilize some thin dresser shelves, turn them vertically, and create a mini slide out pantry right next to your fridge!

Image Source: http://www.houselogic.com

Storage unit

Renting a storage unit is always an option for those dealing with tight spaces. Yes it’s not an “unexpected” storage space inside a home, but many overestimate how much a storage unit costs. At just a small monthly fee, a massive space can be rented out allowing for the safe and secure storage of valuables, seasonal items, and even excess furniture!